Development of a novel cancer survivorship database to describe health care utilization patterns for Coloradans who have completed primary cancer treatment.

Purpose: Electronic health records (EHR) and data warehouses contain large amounts of data that hold promise for understanding and improving population health management. Utilizing the Health Data Compass (HDC) warehouse, a comprehensive and novel database of adult Coloradans who have completed curative-intent cancer treatment within a health care system was created. By analyzing patient demographics and health care utilization among this group, gaps in and barriers to coordinated care post-active cancer treatment may be identified and better understood.

Methods: A survivorship database (HDC-SD) was built from the Health Data Compass (HDC) warehouse by identifying individuals with histories of cancer who received treatment summary care plans (TSCPs) through the University of Colorado Cancer Center (UCCC) between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Patient sociodemographic characteristics, disease characteristics, and health maintenance were described and compared between urban and rural settings using chi-square tests.

Results: The HDC-SD includes 1933 records representing 13 categories of cancers. The majority live in an urban setting (89.8%). Patients in HDC-SD living in urban areas had higher rates of completing recommended colorectal screening, mammography, Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) tests, flu shots, and COVID-19 vaccination. Additionally, emergency department visits occurred at a statistically significant higher level for those living in urban areas.

Conclusions: Creating and analyzing a comprehensive database of individuals who have completed active cancer treatment may highlight gaps in care within complex health care systems. Engaging different stakeholders to address these issues may help improve and enhance systematic population management for cancer survivors.

Implications For Cancer Survivors: Completed treatment summary care plans may be used to increase the completion of individual health maintenance recommendations and potentially population health maintenance recommendations.